


Haunted

by mayawrites95 (mayarox95)



Series: Wish Upon A Star [130]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-01
Updated: 2015-04-01
Packaged: 2018-05-30 11:09:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6421582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayarox95/pseuds/mayawrites95
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the anniversary of Liam's death, and Emma helps Killian through it</p>
            </blockquote>





	Haunted

Things had been going well with Killian; swimmingly well. He had moved in with her about a month ago, once the latest crisis had finally settled down and she had actually bothered finding her own place. She had been worried about asking him to do so, but while the two of them were cuddling against the couch one evening, the words slipped out of her mouth before she knew it, and it caught the two of them off guard. He had grinned and kissed her soundly as he agreed to do so. And for the past month, she could swear that she was living some sort of real life fairy tale, with the way he managed to sweep her off of her feet each day.

Things were going well, until they weren’t.

Over the past week, he started pulling away, distancing himself from her, Henry, and the rest of the town. He could barely hold a conversation, and had taken to brooding in the shadows.

And it scared her, because it seemed like once again in her life, when things were looking up, it would take a turn for the worse.

It happened in nearly all her foster homes as she was growing up; any time she thought she might be able to call a place home, she was soon reminded that she didn’t have that luxury. And the obvious could be stated about why such a thing didn’t work out with any of her former lovers.

So she supposed it shouldn’t have surprised her that it was happening with Killian, despite it breaking her heart more than any other person ever could have.

It was late when he came home, and he reeked of rum; stumbling in like the drunken mess he was. He could barely stand, and when she saw him, she immediately jumped out of the couch where she had been waiting for him, so they could talk, and helped him over there.

“What happened?” she demanded, “Why are you in this state?”

He winced, “Don’t speak so loud, Love, it hurts,” he groaned, eyes closing.

“No,” she said firmly, “I’ve been putting up with your strange behaviour for too long, and I want an explanation. I thought things were going well between the two of us, and if you want out, I need to know. You don’t need to pretend to care about me if you don’t.”

He sobered up slightly at that, “It’s not you,” he said softly. “I love you, Emma. And I don’t want to be out of your life, I promise. It’s just…the past week has been hard for me and I didn’t want to bother you with what was happening. You deserve better than to have to put up with my burdens.”

She cupped his face, “Killian Jones, I don’t want you ever to feel as if you’re a burden to me,” she said softly. “You’ve been there for me through so much crap in my life, and helped me when I needed someone. You literally went back in time with me and outran a curse. How could you ever be a burden? I promise you that I will be here every step of the way, because I love you too.”

He smiled sadly at that and took a deep breath. “Today is the anniversary of Liam’s death,” he said quietly.  “And I know it’s rather foolish of me to still get upset over something that happened well over three hundred years ago, but-”

“-he was your brother,” she finished for him when his voice trailed off. He had mentioned Liam in passing every now and then, and while she knew the general idea about what happened to him, she didn’t know very many details. “Killian, he literally raised you after your mother passed, and is half the reason you’re the man you are; honourable, brave, and a gentleman. It’s only natural that you would miss him. If I had anyone in my life like that while I was growing up, I probably would have turned out to be a lot different.”

He was silent, and she wrapped her arms around him comfortingly. “Tell me about him?” she asked, carefully, not wanting to pry.

“He was fantastic,” Killian said after a moment. “Youngest captain in the entire King’s Navy. He had a way of capturing the hearts of a thousand men when he spoke and invoking loyalty in the hearts of his crew. He took me in, and never showed me any partiality when I joined his crew. I worked my way through the ranks to be his lieutenant. And he was always fair when it came to making decisions. He never treated any man or woman unjustly. He always would call me his ‘little’ brother and it used to drive me up the walls, and I would always bug him to call me ‘younger’ instead. He was going to be married. Found a beautiful lass and they had set a date. I don’t think I could ever forget the look on her face when I told him what happened.”

“He sounds like he was an amazing person,” she said with a smile. “I wish I could have met him.”

“He would have liked you. And he would have been so proud of me bagging a princess,” he teased her softly.

She ran one of her hands down his back comfortingly, and used the other to hold his head. He was shaking slightly and her heart broke into pieces as she tried to comfort him.

“Thank you, Emma,” he said pulling back enough just for him to look into her eyes. “For being here for me.”

“Always,” she said with a soft smile. “Promise you’ll always tell me when something is on your mind from now on?”

He nodded, “Of course.”

“Good,” she said, “Now, you’re still drunk off your ass, so let’s get you to bed, shall we?”

“You’re too good to me, Swan,” he teased, as she helped him off the couch, before heading off towards the bedroom.

“Just as you are to me,” she smiled at him as she wrapped an arm around his waist. He barely made it to the bed as he passed out from the alcohol, and she couldn’t help but wonder if this had been a regular occurrence in the height of his pirating days.

As she lay down next to him, cuddling into his body warmth, she couldn’t help but feel relieved that for once, things weren’t going to take a turn for the worse, and that hopefully, she would have many, many more days left with her boyfriend.

She didn’t fight the tiredness as it hit her like a brick, and as she started drifting off, she had a smile on her face.


End file.
